Elon Musk's online platform X has caused major backlash after people used its AI chatbot Grok to manipulate photos of females by stripping their attire.
Multiple instances have been seen where the technology has been employed to remove clothing from women to make them appear in swimwear without permission, as well as to place them in inappropriate scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Position
XAI, the organization that created Grok, did not respond to inquiries, except for an automatically-generated response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A Home Office representative stated that new laws is being brought forward to outlaw image stripping technology. Under a proposed criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a prison sentence and substantial penalties".
"X or Grok is capable of halting these forms of abuse if they chose to," said a law professor, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Position and Tool Functionality
The communications watchdog Ofcom said tech firms must "assess the risk" of people viewing unlawful material on their services, but stopped short of confirming whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to AI-generated pictures.
Grok is a free artificial intelligence—with some premium functions—which responds to X users' requests when they reference it in a post.
It is commonly used to provide commentary or more background to other users' comments, but people on X are also can modify an posted picture through its artificial intelligence picture modification function.
Background of Controversy and Rules
The tool has been condemned for permitting users to create photos and footage with explicit content and sexualised content, and it was in the past alleged to have been involved in making sexually explicit material of celebrities.
"X has been permitting the generation and spread of these images for months without taking any action and we have yet to see any challenge by oversight bodies," the expert added.
XAI's own terms of service prohibits "portraying images of individuals in a graphic manner".
In a comment, Ofcom said it was illegal to "generate or distribute deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and clarified this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said platforms such as X were required to take "appropriate steps" to "reduce the danger" of users encountering illegal content on their platforms and to remove it swiftly when they are notified of it.
